It is becoming commonplace to use wireless packet data service networks for effectuating data sessions with mobile communications devices. In some implementations, unique indicia such as Personal Information Numbers or PINs are assigned to the devices in order to facilitate certain aspects of service provisioning, e.g., security, validation and service authentication, et cetera. In such scenarios, it becomes imperative that no two devices have the same indicium (i.e., collision). Further, such PIN indicia are mapped to individual Internet Protocol (IP) addresses used in packet-switched networks so that a mobile communications device continues to send and receive messages even if its IP address is changed for some reason. For example, wireless carriers may dynamically assign an IP address to a data-enabled mobile device, and if that device is out of coverage, the previously assigned IP address is reclaimed and recycled for another device requesting service.
Because of the mapping between IP addresses and PIN indicia assigned to the devices, a potential security issue such as, e.g., “identity theft” arises, however. By way of illustration, an attacker could create a packet with the PIN assigned to a legitimate device and transmit it from a different IP address that claims to be the legitimate device, i.e., one having the authorized PIN. This may cause routing of the messages intended for the legitimate device to the attacker's IP address (i.e., a Denial of Service or DoS attack).